Martín Torrijos Presidential Promises

Torrijos and his government plan: 350 thousand jobs and investments for $19 billion in infrastructure.  Two decades ago, Martín Torrijos arrived at the Palacio de las Garzas with 47.44% of the votes.  At that time, Torrijos ran for the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) in alliance with the Popular Party.  After his administration (2004-2009), Torrijos stayed away from political life and had no desire to hold another public office.  It was not until March 2023, when he confirmed his aspirations for the most important popular election position in the country and warned that he would not run for the PRD.

At the beginning of this year he formally resigned from the PRD, the only group to which he had belonged all his life and the same one that his father Omar Torrijos founded.  “I have made the decision to break the last link that united me to the PRD… Today I resign from the PRD, led by Benicio Robinson and Raúl Pioneda, associated with Laurentino Cortizo and Gaby Carrizo,” Torrijos remarked in a video on his social network.  With Torrijos, his wife Vivian Fernández resigned, so did Rosario Turner, the former Minister of Health who is now his running mate.  Omar Torrijos’ son is now running for the Popular Party with his government plan titled: Panama at Another Level.  Briefly, (maybe not so briefly) here is the Torrijos plan. 

-Generate 350 thousand formal jobs in the next five years. According to his government plan, he will do so with different programs such as “My First Job”, a formal program that would give young people without work experience the opportunity to work in state entities, mixed companies and private companies.  This program would last two years.

-Generate around 3,500 direct and indirect jobs during the first 100 days of government with the “Panama Without Gaps” plan.  If he reaches the Palacio de las Herons, he says that he will invest $100 million to rehabilitate streets and avenues nationwide.

-Create an alliance with the country’s mayors for “Panamá Brilla”, a program focused on cleaning critical points in the country while stabilizing the waste management system. For this program, they intend to invest $50 million, which according to plan, would generate about 2,500 jobs.

-Invest $19 billion in more than 40 infrastructure projects in order to reactivate the economy and generate some 165 thousand jobs. These are some of the infrastructure projects that he mentions in his government plan: a tunnel between Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro, metro line 2A (Ricardo J. Alfaro to the Iglesia del Carmen), the San Miguelito cable car, at least 10 water reservoirs to supply areas not managed by the Canal, the Bocas del Toro Airport (with international flights), and the third runway of the Tocumen International Airport.

– Create the “Panamá se Capacita” plan, through the National Institute of Vocational Training and Training for Human Development (Inadeh) 4.0 platform.  If elected, his government will negotiate with companies interested in investing in Panama so that they commit to local hiring.  The Inadeh curricula will offer English, vocational careers and technical careers of up to 2 years. The State will finance these trainings.  Inadeh 4.0 would have a bank of tutors and mentors, as well as local and foreign internship opportunities, according to its plan.

-Create at least two new development poles similar to Panama Pacifico outside the Panama Canal area.

-Build assembly and light manufacturing free zones nationwide.

-Remove the subsidies granted to low-income families gradually, once the economic situation is on track. Subsidies for companies, according to their plan, would be evaluated individually.

-Convert the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) into the governing body of all port concessions and/or oil pipelines, gas pipelines, logistics corridors and any other future concessions.

-Build the 5G Panama-Border Highway, a high-speed interprovincial highway with tolls that will cover the province of Panama to the border of Chiriquí. This highway, according to its government plan, will be designed for agribusiness, tourism, and the transportation of people at a lower cost for private companies and other Panamanians. It also proposes an exclusive highway for cargo between Panama and Colón. This 5G highway would be interconnected with provincial highways (Darién, Veraguas, Coclé, Azuero, Colón and Panamá Oeste).

-Build logistics corridors to facilitate the transportation of merchandise. Among those holding promise are: the Northern Corridor to the Tocumen Airport, the Southern Corridor to Pacora, the Northern Corridor to the port of Balboa, and the Panama Pacific route to the Port of PSA, Puente Centenario, Panama Cargo Highway Colon.  He also promises to build the Fourth Bridge over the Canal.

– Agrees with the ACP that Río Indio is the most viable alternative to obtain water, both for human consumption and for the operation of the Canal.

-Create the National Water and Sanitation Corporation that will have among its responsibilities to manage the basins not managed by the ACP and consolidate all institutions related to water (Idaan, Panama Sanitation Company, the Directorate of Drinking Water and Sanitation of the Ministry of Health, the National Council for Sustainable Development and the National Water Council, among others).

-Generate master plans for the expansion of water and sanitation coverage, prioritizing the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure, and service in rural areas of the country.

-Develop new infrastructure, in addition to rehabilitating existing ones to expand drinking water and sewage coverage services. It suggests developing a plan to eliminate the use of latrines nationwide.

-Ensure that energy distribution companies comply with the investments to which they committed, accounting for public lighting, the number of blackouts and the quality of service.

-Measure energy distributors based on the quality of service as a key element of their income.

-That the only requirement for the installation of residential solar panels will be that they be installed by a certified installer. Companies must connect the service in a period of no more than 15 days.

-Evaluate the electrical interconnection with neighboring countries to achieve agreements that allow lowering the cost of energy.

-Install a monitoring center that reflects in real time any event that interrupts or affects the provision of the service. This, according to its plan, will allow ASEP to identify system failures in real time, ensure and demand compliance with the service, and sanction as necessary. This monitoring center would operate 24/7.

-Increase lighting coverage throughout the country, requiring distribution companies to comply with their lighting commitment. These luminaires must be LED or solar light.

-Identify free land near metro stations where passengers can board and disembark. This would be coordinated with taxi drivers and people who have their own car. After this analysis, he proposes talking to the owners of these lands for their acquisition.

-Reopen the Metrobus concession. The company that wins this concession will be responsible for renewing and maintaining the fleet.

-Restructure the operation of Metrobus routes, complying with schedules and itineraries according to demand.

-Implement tiered rates, discounts for vulnerable groups and electronic payment options.

-The country requires reforms to the Constitution.  His plan anticipates that the reforms would be focused on the three organizations of the State, and research and control institutions, such as the Comptroller General of the Republic and the Public Ministry.

-I would try to pass these constitutional reforms through the new National Assembly. If this route is not possible, I would carry out reforms through a parallel constituent.

Education

-Review the curricular contents offered at the different levels of the educational system.

-Give incentives to students who live in hard-to-reach areas for regular attendance at classes in order to reduce school dropouts.

-Manage economic resources so that all rural and hard-to-access educational centers, no later than the year 2027, have electricity and internet access.

– That by 2029, the 15 thousand teachers who are currently in the system are trained and certified in new skills. This includes everyone being bilingual and fluent in subjects such as mathematics, Spanish, natural and social sciences.

– Progressively convert all schools in the country into bilingual classrooms.

-Create the Medicines Supply Agency, an entity that will be in charge of the purchase and distribution of medicines, supplies and equipment.

-Create the National Medicines Observatory, a digital platform that will determine the reference prices of public health entities to lower the cost of medicines.

-Build a new National Oncology Institute in Panama City.

-Guarantee that hospital directors are appointed by competition, outside of politics.

– Convene a dialogue table in the first hundred days to reform the pension system. You will have a period of 6 months to reach an agreement, given the urgency of solving this problem.

-Evaluate the affordability of payment of contributions for informal workers with low contributory capacity. It also proposes moving forward with a universal old-age pension, within a framework of fiscal sustainability. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), this measure would cost around 1-1.2% of GDP.

Citizen security

-Double the number of police officers on the streets in the first four months.

-Implement border control to prevent people with criminal records from entering.

Solid waste management

-Close the Cerro Patacón landfill and, in its replacement, create a sanitary landfill that would be located in a suitable site, where the use and disposal of solid waste (clean energy, biofuels, among others) takes place.

-Invite an international tender for the new sanitary landfill. He estimates it will take about 4 years to get it up and running.